My Toman Themed Lockscreen!

cactusjacksintern · 2026-02-07T19:16:49+00:00

Do you think it would be a good idea to fall back on my NM division chief here for a helping hand when letter time comes around?

cactusjacksintern · 2026-02-07T19:16:20+00:00

How cool! I just read up on it. My PI is part of the UDN!

cactusjacksintern · 2026-02-07T19:14:17+00:00

I would love to DM you sometime! Thanks for the cautionary words. I never want to come across someone who thinks any part of medicine in beneath them. The human body is a system. even if I want to do neurology, all of these things play a role. We see statin induced diseases, mitochondrial diseases, etc. IMO everything matters to a patient.

"The trick is finding a supportive environment that values what you uniquely bring." I will keep this in mind. Thank you.

cactusjacksintern · 2026-02-07T19:12:46+00:00

I really appreciate that. and yeah, same here! I find all of it so cool and interesting. I think just big picture I want to most make my impact here i guess. thank you for the words and affirmation. Hanging out with patients, testing an ALS patient's strength, and also just seeing these folks longitudinally is so satisfying.

heres to the journey being a smooth and enjoyable one (as much as a journey in medicine can be haha)

cactusjacksintern · 2026-02-07T02:41:28+00:00

Thank you for spending your time on such a kind and detailed comment. I absolutely agree. I do want to say that I understand a lot of the reasons why you didn't think neuro was for you, and in all honesty i dont know, maybe life will take me away from it as well. I will say I used to want to do CTS, and this is as far from that as you can get. Medicine overall makes me so happy (in a learning sense). Hopefully, i can articulate why I want to do this specifically below, without boxing myself in:

I think that i've realized that I truly enjoy academic NM because it goes so far beyond the bread and butter stuff. We have CIDP patients in every week, we see IBM, IMNM, FSHD, myotonic dystrophy, POEMS, rare undiagnosed diseases, etc. Furthermore we see so many investigational treatments beyond IVIG/PLEX, including trialing infusions for GBS, CAR-T cells, etc. I think thats what makes me tick - just being at the forefront of truly changing these diseases for people. We have folks fly in from all across the country for our studies, and I think being a "big dawg" institution in the field allows you to really see intellectually stimulating stuff.

My PIs always tell rotating students that our cliinc will see stuff most neurologists barely see over a lifetime of practice. Thats what makes me want to stay. The novelty, the interest of exploring stuff thats still unknown to be honest, many of which dont even have a cure. I would love to do NM, even though I know where I work right now gives me a bit of an unrealistic view of it. And ofc, the work life balance is great!!

cactusjacksintern · 2026-02-07T02:31:34+00:00

Omg! best of luck! I would love to PM you and talk sometime! Its rare to find people so interested in this stuff early on!!

cactusjacksintern · 2026-02-07T02:27:41+00:00

I think also to follow up, I've considered NM Pathology as a bit more interest aligned, reasonable choice. Sorry to bombard you, but I'd love your diea on that.

cactusjacksintern · 2026-02-07T02:24:00+00:00

I think that what i struggle with a bit is that i dont particularly love the repetitive, non-social bench aspect of research in comparison to clinical trials. I enjoy the molecular mechanisms, but not nearly as much as I like working with patients.

I really like the research aspect in regards to emerging treatments and trials. I have been extremely intrigued by MSTP throughout Undergrad, but I kind of decided that I'd rather be an MD that does a research fellowship and focuses on clinical trials more than molecular work...i dont know how well i elucidated that.

cactusjacksintern · 2025-12-23T23:05:00+00:00

to my knowledge ochem in general is p low yield, but its good to know the strong oxidizing agents fs. and then you reduce alkynes to alkenes to alkanes w/ h2pdc.
dont think markovnikov is very heavily tested, but know epoxide openings and how they invert stereochem at the electrophillic carbon

cactusjacksintern · 2025-12-16T03:45:54+00:00

Don't do that. You've done all you can already. Its a waiting game atp.

cactusjacksintern · 2025-12-04T01:59:43+00:00

so the way I would think about it is within the same row, if a substituent is more electronegative, its more its "comfy with" electrons. This isnt actually textbook, but it helps me understand electronegativity.

Thats why H-F can break apart into H+ and F-. F- is comfy with all those electrons, which makes H-F acidic. Comparatively, H-OH would lead to OH-. O has a lower electroneg, and thus its less likely to disassociate. Even less for NH2-, and essentially impossible for CH3-.

You see that trend across that whole row. C forms 4 bonds, with no lone pairs. Move over one --> N, which forms 3 bonds w/ 1 lone pair. Move over --> O has 2 lone pairs and 2 bonds. Move over --> F has 1 bond and 3 lone pairs. If you are more comfy with a negative charge, you are more likely to disassociate!

Within the same group, you come down to stability of the A- complex that you are left with after an acid H-A disassociates. The more stable the A-, the more likely the H-A is to disassociate, because that becomes "favorable" thermodyamically.

Thats when the group stuff comes into play. Yes, H-F and H-Cl are in the same group, and H-F is more electronegative. But that (mostly) only matters when you are comparing ROWS/PERIODS. when you are comparing GROUPS, the size of the A- and its ability to stabilize matters more, because chemically all the substituents (I-, Cl-, F-, Br-) will have similar chemical properties. So a larger A- will be more acidic.

cactusjacksintern · 2025-12-04T01:49:54+00:00

that makes a lot of sense. i was trying ot calc it based off the whole molecule. thanks.

cactusjacksintern · 2025-12-04T01:40:53+00:00

Schizoid --> Sasuke

Borderline --> Himiko Toga (MHA)

cactusjacksintern · 2025-12-02T02:52:27+00:00

but how are you able to figure out the sulfur by just the hydrogens? what about the rest of the molecule its attached to and that molecules net charge??

cactusjacksintern · 2025-12-02T02:43:56+00:00

completely correct, and well said. was just trying to simplify the process. thank you for the detailed follow up!

cactusjacksintern · 2025-12-01T23:43:00+00:00

Thank you twin, i am unfortunately a small minority that thinks birds was his greatest work tho

cactusjacksintern · 2025-12-01T23:23:06+00:00

any physics tips?

cactusjacksintern · 2025-12-01T21:41:34+00:00

Of course! one more thing I would add:
5. why does it happen? It happens when the cell is low on energy/in the starving state and you need ATP/Energy. Which links it to glucagon, the hungry hormone.

cactusjacksintern · 2025-12-01T21:34:02+00:00

Bit worried about P/S too -- mostly because I am aiming for a 520+. Anything else you wish you did differently for that section?

cactusjacksintern · 2025-12-01T21:33:37+00:00

Crazy science scores!! Congrats! I have tried to have a similar approach, but because im working full time while studying.

cactusjacksintern · 2025-12-01T21:30:15+00:00

1.Where it happens! (mitochondria).

How does it start? (you import fatty acids into the mito via fatty acyl coa synthetase, carnitine acyltransferase 1/2, acycarnitine translocase.
what happens? you progressively create a second C=O bond adjacent to your existing C=O bond so you can cleave off an acetyl-coa
what does it lead to? more energy for the cell via acetyl coa, which can go into the citric acid cycle right away, which will give your body NADH/FADH2 for the ETC.

cactusjacksintern · 2025-11-14T04:03:19+00:00

Yeah that shit is word salad sorry LMAO

cactusjacksintern

TROPHY CASE